Bending, Cultivation, & Systems 1 (AtlA, pseudo WC) (Patreon)

I didn’t say a word as I was escorted from my cell block. Not even fourty, and on my way to the chair. Still didn’t see why it was such a big deal, the building had been a dilapidated piece of garbage. If a few drugged up hobos didn’t want to go up in smoke, they should have made better decisions.

Part of me, the part that had always been drawn to fire, felt annoyed that I was going to be executed by electric chair. Death by burning would be better, my soul cleansed by flame before moving onto the afterlife. Instead, I’d be strapped into a chair and feel nothing, a death that only the weak of spirit would long for.

The court official made some grandiose proclamation, listing what these fools and cowards declared to be my crimes and the punishment. I did not listen, instead focusing my sight inward. I do not know what awaits me when my spirit leaves this mortal shell of flesh and blood, but without the purification of a fiery death, I do what I can to meditate and focus my spirit.

A hand on my shoulder snapped me back to reality. It was the time, I suppose. As they lead me to the chair, I take a deep breath. They strap me in, and the man overseeing the execution begins to list off my crimes again. I was asked if I had any last words, I simply grunted as the last straps were secured.

I heard the sound of the switch being flipped, and then my vision went white. For a moment that lasted an eternity, all sound ceased. Then, somehow, I was no longer restrained. I was still in the chair, but I could move, stand, despite myself and the chair being the only things that were not endless white void.

“What is this?” I muttered under my breath, my voice raspy as I spoke for the first time in over a year. No sooner had I asked the question, a screen appeared in my vision, the color of smoke with the letters glowing like embers.

[WELCOME TO THE SYSTEM, USER VIKTOR KOHLER]

I stared at the screen blankly for a minute or two, blinking as I tried to comprehend. After a few minutes of waiting for the screen to change, I finally responded. I asked what the System was, and the screen changed.

[THE SYSTEM CHOOSES RANDOM INDIVIDUALS AT POINT OF DEATH TO TRAIN TO ELITE WARRIOR STATUS. USER VIKTOR KOHLER CHOSEN TO BE RECIPIENT #4.89072 × 10^846130 OF THE SYSTEM’S BENEFITS]

It took me a moment to process what I had read. Slowly, a grin spread across my face, as the realization of just what kind of opportunity had fallen into my lap. Rolling my neck and shoulders, receiving a few satisfying cracks in return, I focused on the screen.

“And just what are these benefits that you’re talking about?” I asked.

[GENERATING USER STATUS SCREEN, PLEASE WAIT.]

After a few moments, the screen shifted to something out of an RPG.

Name: Viktor Kohler

Grade: F

Age: 39

Race: Human, F Grade

Class: None

Level: 1

Body: 9

Alacrity: 5

Durability: 6

Spirit: 10

Qi: 1

Free Points: 1

Skills: Capoeira (Basic), Cooking (Basic), Fire Science (Moderate)

Perks: None

Curses: None

Retinue: None

Free Rolls: 3

I didn’t know what Qi was, but the other four attributes were fairly self explanatory. How strong, fast, tough, and strong of spirit I was. The grade was probably a measure of how powerful an individual was, if the few pieces of literature I’d been allowed with a similar system were anything to go by.

“What are ‘Rolls’?”

[COMMENCING GACHA ROLLS: PERK - UNCOMMON, COMPANION - F GRADE, CURSE - LESSER

PERK: BASIC FIREBENDING

COMPANION: DEE DEE

CURSE: SEED OF LUST (MINOR)

INTEGRATION COMPLETE, ASSIGNING WORLD]

The void around me went back, and I fell.

[hr][/hr]

I opened my eyes, and found myself in a small, one room hovel. The bed I was laying on was hard, the mattress worn and thin. I could hear people yelling and screaming outside the building. The air stank of sulfur and ash. On the ground next to the bed were two girls, who were obviously identical twins at a glance. Both were completely naked, and looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old.

Both were also clearly asleep, though their faces were contorted into expressions of fear and pain. Both were also sporting fresh brands, one on each of their upper arms, the brand resonating with something deep in my soul, and even without having seen it before I knew that it marked them as belonging to me. It was then that a screen popped up in my vision, the first one I had seen since falling.

[QUEST RECEIVED

TUTORIAL - OUT OF THE PAN

SURVIVE THE BATTLE WITH THE BANDITS

REWARD: GACHA ROLL (COMMON), 2 FREE POINTS]

“That doesn’t sound good,” I muttered, standing up and stepping around the unconscious twins to leave the hovel and get a look on the battle outside.

I was immediately hit with the oppressive heat of the outside, the dry air almost painful as I breathed it in. The village was built along the side of a mountain, and the sounds of combat were coming from the opposite end. There were a number of buildings that were on fire, and I could see a group of bandits looting the town hall.

There were a few dozen of them, all men, and the group was easily overpowering the townsfolk, killing any that put up resistance. The bandits wore a ragged, patchwork set of armor and fur, and most were carrying axes or hammers for their choice of weapon. One however, the probable leader, was performing a martial arts kata that coincided with the mountain rock itself moving and attacking for him.

I was a little worried about facing them, as I didn’t have any weapons, and only had only a few months of lessons in martial arts before being arrested. Even so, I could already feel the urge to fight burning in my veins. My hands felt empty, and I longed to feel the weight of a weapon in them.

Taking in a deep breath, I felt… something within my core grow warmer. An energy flowed through my body, and a glance down at my hand as a stream of the energy reached my palm saw a small flame appear above my palm. The flow of energy ended, and the flame died with it. Taking in another breath, the energy flow resumed, and I grinned.

A voice in the back of my head warned me that the bandits would see, but the rest of my brain was too busy focusing on the new sensation that I couldn’t bring myself to care. Once again, the energy flow stopped, and I let out a laugh. Fire, that perfect and purifying energy, was now at my fingertips.

With another deep breath, I began walking down the road toward the bandits. As I passed by, I noticed a few of the houses were empty, the owners presumably having been killed or enslaved by the raiders. As I approached the plaza, a bandit caught sight of me, and alerted the rest.

As they turned their attention to me, the martial art using bandit finished his kata, a number of villagers being crushed by the boulders he'd used. As the rubble was cleared, the bandit leader stepped forward, looking me up and down as his men circled me.

“Who the hell are you?” the bandit leader demanded, glaring at me.

I didn't answer, instead taking in deep breaths, feeding the core within me to a greater blaze. The leader scoffed, and a few of the other bandits snickered.

“The hell's wrong with him? He mute or somethin'?”

“Don't know, don't care. Just kill him.”

The bandits advanced, weapons raised. As one brought an ax down at my head, I released a torrent of flame from my hands, the heat washing over me like a lover's touch. The flames hit the bandit, and he screamed in pain, dropping his ax and rolling on the ground. I ducked down, dropping to my hands in a spin to impart additional momentum to my legs as I lashed out in a sweeping kick, a trail of flames following behind.

The fireball hit a pair of bandits in the shins, causing them to stumble. A third was forced to drop his hammer and jump to the side, rolling in the dirt as his tunic began to smolder. The martial arts user, a rock elementalist, seemed unimpressed as his fellows burned, and advanced forward. The rock elementalist raised his hands, and a boulder flew through the air, slamming through the air towards me with the force of a train.

One of the key benefits of the martial art I'd studied before my incarceration, capoeira, was that it didn't move like most martial arts. It was a martial style disguised as a dance, and a few of its techniques were more reminiscent of breakdancing or gymnastics than a martial art.

In response to the boulder flying toward me, I dropped back down to the ground, and spun my legs around, using the momentum to launch myself into a flip. The rock hit the ground where I had been, sending up a shower of rocks and dust.

While the rock elementalist was still stunned, I charged at him, and jumped into the air, aiming a kick at his jaw. A stone pillar erupted from the ground, catching me in the stomach, and sending me flying. I landed roughly, the wind knocked out of me. Shaking my head, I tried to clear my thoughts.

The other bandits were getting back up, and the rock elementalist was glaring at me, “You've got guts, stranger. I'll give you that.”

He grinned, and his hands came together, a spear of stone flowing up from the ground between his palms. He gripped the haft of the weapon, and leveled it at me.

“I haven't had a proper fight in ages, this is gonna be fun!”

My eyes narrowed, and I began taking deep breaths, a raging fire growing in my belly. The elementalist rushed at me, and swung his spear around in an overhead strike. I rolled out of the way, and the spear struck the cobblestone where I had just been.

Throwing my torso backwards towards the ground, my palms landing first and absorbing some of the energy, I brought both feet up in a double kick, aiming for the elementalist's groin. He brought his spear down, blocking the strike, and thrust forward with the butt of the weapon.

My hands were already pushing off the ground, and I flipped over the attack, the wind rushing through my hair. My fists came down on the stone weapon, and the elementalist's hands fell open, the spear breaking. I kicked off the stone weapon, and landed a few steps away.

The bandit leader scowled, and tossed the halves of the spear to the side.

“I'm done playing around. Time to kill you!”

The ground beneath us trembled, and the stones began to shake, the cobblestones rising up into spikes. My eyes widened, and I dove out of the way. The spikes erupted from the ground, a number of the bandits impaled by the stone spears. The elementalist turned to face towards me, and in a panic, I pointed both hands at him and pushed as much of the energy within me at him, unleashing a veritable wall of flames.

The blast caught the elementalist unaware, and he stumbled backwards, the skin on his face and hands blackening from the flames. With a snarl, he slammed his foot down on the ground, a stone wall erupting from the ground and shielding him.

Heaving a sigh of relief, I took a few breaths, the energy in my core refilling. The wall crumbled, and the elementalist stepped forward. His hands were clenched into fists, and his breathing was ragged.

“Damnit! I'm sick of this!”

The earth shook, and I was suddenly sent flying into the air, a pillar of rock having emerged under my feet. The elementalist's arm was raised, pointing at me, and another rock pillar shot from the ground, launching me higher. I pinwheeled, but nothing I did prevented me from landing, painfully, on the roof of one of the village hovels.

Pain exploded in my back, as I hit the thatched roof. I could hear the structure crack and collapse under my weight. I struggled to move, the pain overwhelming, but managed to roll onto my stomach. The sound of footsteps approached, and a hand grabbed my shoulder, turning me around.

The elementalist glared down at me, his free hand wreathed in a rocky gauntlet. A cruel, vicious grin was on his face, and he raised his fist.

“Time to die, hero.”

His fist came down, and everything went red. A wet, coughing sound filled my ears, but there was no additional pain. Bringing my hand up, I wiped away the blood in my eyes, looking up to see the tip of a knife poking out the front of the elementalist’s neck.

“Our Master’s a bit overeager, Dee Dee,” a female voice said behind the elementalist.

A warm body slid behind me and propped my torso into a sitting position. The twin masses against my back told me the gender of the one propping me up, as she spoke up in the same voice as the previous speaker.

“Did pretty well despite that, Dee Dee.”